Wireless

Bababoo is a new iPhone mobile VoIP app, similar to Viber which aims to simplify dialing while saving on costs. Bababoo user-to-user calls are free. It automatically figures out whether WiFi, 3G (data), or your mobile carrier is the best way to connect. Non-Bababoo calls are 16 cents/minute.

Say goodbye to your pokey 3G MiFi. Verizon Wireless and Novatel Wireless today announced that the MiFi 4510L 4G LTE Mobile Hotspot that runs on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE Mobile Broadband network is available online today. The 4G LTE MiFi 4510L is available online at www.verizonwireless.com and will be in Verizon Wireless Communications Stores on April 21 for $99.99 after a $50 mail-in rebate with a new two-year customer agreement on a 4G Mobile Broadband plan. 4G LTE Mobile Broadband plans begin at $50 monthly access for 5GB.

The MiFi 4510L lets you share the connection with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices simultaneously. I was hoping they'd increase the number of device to ten by now.

Rich Tehrani gives his reasons why Google needs to launch what I'll call "Google Store", a direct retail competitor to the Apple Stores located in many malls and cities around the country. Only one problem with this is that Google only sells Android products to consumers. Apple stores sell a variety of products including laptops, tablets, computers, iPods, iPod/iPhone accessories, Mac software, etc.

Nortel's carcass continues to be picked at, with many golden nuggets discovered, making their demise all the more surprising.
Google is offering $900 million for 6,000 Nortel telecom patents covering 4G, wireless, data networking, optical, voice, semiconductors and other telecom areas, according to ZDNet.

The tech world has recently seen an explosion in patent litigation, often involving low-quality software patents, which threatens to stifle innovation. Some of these lawsuits have been filed by people or companies that have never actually created anything; others are motivated by a desire to block competing products or profit from the success of a rival’s new technology. The patent system should reward those who create the most useful innovations for society, not those who stake bogus claims or file dubious lawsuits. It's for these reasons that Google has long argued in favor of real patent reform, which we believe will benefit users and the U.S.

Apple just released iOS 4.3.1 today for the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad that includes some bug fixes and no major improvements. One bug fix fixes image flicker when connecting the new Digital AV Adapter to televisions. According to Apple, this update:

Fixes an occasional graphics glitch on the 4th generation iPod touch

Resolves bugs relating to activating and connecting to some cellular networks

What's most annoying about all these new updates is I have to re-jailbreak my phone and hope/wait for a new jailbreak utility. I have wonder if Apple will intentionally start issuing more releases with "bug" fixes that also plug the current jailbreak exploits.

Sirius is serious about providing superior customer service. One reason Sirius satellite users often pay for satellite radio is because they have no patience with commercials that you get with traditional radio. So having these same users wait 'on hold' listening to music-on-hold or audio promotions is not a good idea. Well, now Sirius customers and potential customers can now reach call center agents with one click - no phone menus, no waiting on hold, leveraging Fonolo's virtual queuing technology.

Even with Adobe's new Wallaby offering which aims to make détente with Apple in the mobile space, Adobe is still going full steam ahead in improving Adobe Flash, including its VoIP capabilities. Adobe just released Adobe Flash 10.3 beta, which makes some enhancements to its VoIP capabilities. Specifically, 'Acoustic Echo Cancellation', which enables developers to create real-time online collaboration experiences with high-quality audio, such as telephony, in-game voice chat, and group conferencing applications. Developers can take advantage of acoustic echo cancellation, noise suppression, voice activity detection, and automatic compensation for various microphone input levels.